Note-sheet-guide mechanism.



E W WOOD v OTE SHEET GUIDE MEGHANISM. APPLICATION FILED MAY za, 1907. 901,930, Patented 0G11. 20, 1908. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Si gummi unmllnmnnnmunm gli!! F W WOOD NOTE SHEET GUIDE MEGHANISM. APPLICATION FILED MAY 28, 1907. 901,930, Patented 2o,

2 EETS-S UNiTED STATE-s PATENT OFFICE rannnaicii w. woon, or KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, AssiGNoR To BERRY-woon PiANov PLAYER CO., OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.-

Noris-siren'r-GUIDE imciiiiinsial lZh all whom it' may concern:`

Be it known that I, FREDERICH, W. WOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented-certain new and useful Improvement in- Note- Sheeti Guide Mechanism, of which the followingfis a specification. This invention lrelates to musical instrument players and more especially to automatic note-sheet guide mechanism for suchplayers, of that class whereby the lateral creepage .of the note sheet results in its restoration -to normal position before any of its perforations can be moved entirely out of alinement with their respective tracker bar passages, the object of the' present invention being to produce a guide mechanism which shallrespond to an almost imperceptiblelateral creepage of the note-sheet and instantly effect the restoration of the note sheet to its true` path and thus insure a full and proper .registration of each note sheet perforation with its respective tracker bar passage. y

Vith this general object in view the -invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features 'of construction and organization as hereinafter described and claimed; andv in order that it may be fully understood reference is tobe had to the accompanyingA draw-v ings in' which- Figure 1, is a top plan view', partly broken away, of a note-sheet guide mechanism embodying,` my invention. Fig. 2, isfa vertical transverse section of the same with a partbroken away to expose other features of construction more clearly. Fig.' 3,' iis a fragmentary view to show more clearly the means `for adjusting a part-hereinafter' described.

Figs. 4 and 5 are plan views of a part of the valve casings. Figs. 6 and 7 Vare vertical sections of the casings shownrespectively at Figs. 4 and 5. l v

-In the said drawings, '1 indicates end frames connected at their upper and lower front corners by; tie rods 2 and 3 respectively and at theirre'ar sides by a tie rod 4, which rod 4 maybe a roller ifdesired, the parts named constituting av framework. Y

A rock frame mounted at its front end on rod 3 as apivot, comprises a pair of arms 5 connected by a cross bar 6 and said 'rock Specicaton ofLetters Patent. v.tp'piic'aam aiea nay 2s, 19m. serial No. 376,152. c

Patentedoct. 2o, 1908.

frame is held yieldingly elevated by a spring 7 of the type shown or of any other suitable.

or preferred type, for the purpose of holding a roller 8, in such position as tocoperate` with a driven roller hereinafter de-A scribed, in feeding the note sheet, also hereinafter referred to.

' Sindicates a short shaft journaled in one end -of frame 1 and rovided at-its inner end with a crank or pinv 10 and at its outer end with a thumb piece 1l, the latter' being to enable the person in control to operate and. quickly turn said shaft. and through the instrumentality of said crank eitherv force the rock frame downward or permit spring 7 to raise it.`

``12 indicates the note sheet of the endless or any preferred4 type extending upward .from a casing, not-shown, at the front side of lrd"`i"1'*oller 4 and at the rear side of a roll 1 3 `journaled in 'the upperv rear corners of the framework. From roll 13 the note sheet extends downwardly and forwardly around the' anged roll 14 also journaled in the framework. From roll 14 the note sheet extends rearwardly and around the rear side of a roll 1 5 journaled in the framework, and from said roll around the front sidewof a suitably drivenroller 16, vand-from'the latter- 'down andv around therear side of. roller 8' hereiiibefore referred to and hence down into the casing. Between rolls 14 and 15,-V

the note sheet engages the'.tracker bar 17 provided with the customary tracker b ar passages 18 and depending tubes 19 for connection with the air-exhausting mechanism, not shown.

At one end theI tracker bar is provided in its front edge Awith a notch '20'andex`tendingacrgss said notch in parallel relation and pin 21 and a headed screw v22, said screw being reduced to provide the non-threaded portion 23, journaled in the tracker bar and tan the requiredcubical air-capacity and yet re-V quire a lateral creepagefalmost imperceptible, lof the note sheet for partly uncovering the covered passage -26 or completely covering `the partially covered passage 27.

28 and 29 indicate tubes secured at their upper end to block and communicating with passages 26 and'27, respectively, and 30 is a retractile coil spring secured at one end to said block and at the other to the tracker 4 bar in any suitable manner for the purpose of adjusting the block inwardly of' the trackerbar when the screw 22'is turned to permit such movement.

31 indicates a rod disposed rearward of andy preferably out of contact with'the note sheet above rod or roller 4 and 32 indicates a pair of guideirods supportin g rod 31 and extendin slidingly through guide brackets 33 secure l said rods 32 being attached by eye-bolts 34 or otherwise to the movablesides Aof a pair of pneumatics 35 and 36, secured to the framework at its front side andopposite ends in `any suitable manner, springs 37 secured to 'the pneumatics and engaging rock, frame bar 6 tending to hold the pneumatics normally expanded as shown inpFig.- 2. The pneumatics 35 and 36 are equipped with ltubes 38,- connected by flexible tubes, not

shown with tubes 39l and 40 of valve casings `41-and42 respectively. Each casing is provided with a' chamber 43 connected to its relspective tube, with an exhaust chamber 44 connected through tubes 45 with air exhaust- .ing apparatus, not shown, and withv chambers 46, thechamber 46 of the casing 4 1 havinga tube 47 connected'by a flexible tube not shown, with tube 28 communicating with passage 26 of slide block 25. Chamber 46 of caslng 42 likewise has aV tube 48 connected by a flexible-tube, not shown, with tube 29 communicating 4with passage 27 of saidl block-zand said chambers 46 are connected with their respective exhaust chambers 44 by vent holes 49. Y

The partitions of the casings separating chambers 43 and 44 are provided with o en ings 50j and the partitions between cham ers 44 and 46 of the casing have open-ings covered by liexible diaphragms 5l, and secured .to saiddiaphragms are valve stems 52 eX- tending up through openings 50, openings 53 in the tops of the casings, and. through guidebars 54 and 55 otsaidcasings respectively.

to the framework, the front ends ofv 5,6 is a valve mounted'on the valve stem 52 of casing 41 in chamber 43 and normally covering the contiguous opening 50. 57 is a similar valve mounted on `stein 52 of casing 42 in chamber 44 and normally covering opening 50 of such casing, the valve-stem of the last-named casing beinglalso provided with a valve 58 adapted attimes to cover and close opening 53 of such casing but normally leaving such opening uncovered.

From the above it will be seenthat normally air is vfree to enter both pneumatics through the openings 53 ofthe respective valve casings and coperate with the springs f 37 in holding the vpneumatics expanded and the rod'31 behind and out ofl contact with the note sheet, the latter being adapted when the rock frame is operated to cause roller 8 topress the note sheet against .air

the driven roller 16, to' impart yinovementto' said sheet downward between Athe drivenl roller 16 and roller 8.

swerve Should the note sheet lziterally so as -to uncover passage, 26, wou d' enter chamber 46 of casing 41 and press the diaphragm upwardly and raise valve 56 until the same uncovers opening `50 and closes .opening 53, `the result being the suction 1n j chamber 444 would, ythrough the connecting tubes described effect the collapse of neumatic 35 and thus pull the end of ro 31 connected to said pneumatic forward until it exerted pressure againstV the corresponding side of the note sheet and caused the same toswerve in 4 the opposite direction and re-coversaid passage 26, the re-covering of lthe passage resultino" in the f return of the diaphra m and va ve of the connected casing to their`original positions and the rexpansion of the connected neum'atic.

Shoud the note sheet swerve and completely coverV passage 27,' it would cut oil' the passage of air to chamber 46 of casing 42, which action would be instantly followed by the downward movement of diaphragm 51 and the valve stem with its valve 57 and valve 58,'A the movement of the former opening communication between the exhaust chambers 43 and A44 and cutting o communication between chamber 43 and the atmosphere by the simultaneous down- 'ward movement of valve 58.- As ,a result the suctional action from chamber'44 would effect the collapse of the pneumatic 36 and through the connections described cause the corresponding end of rod 31 to move forward and en age the note sheet and thereby cause the atter to resume its original position and thus readmit air to passage 57, it being understood that the uncovering of said passage 27 results in the return of the diaphragm and valves of the connected casing to their original positions and the reexpansion of the connected pneumatic.

am aware of the patent on automatic vided with a pair 3of passages disposedrin av causethe-note sheet to move or creep 1ater` notesheet guide? mechanism; #755950 `is-4 sued March'29, 1904:,v James D, Smith inventor, 'which shows'v one-of the-rollers over,

'which the' note -sheetj runs, capable 'of v being tilted upwarduat one end-'orthe other to embodied an adjustable block provided with a pair ofopenin'gs, one of which is-adapted to be normally eX osed by the note sheet.

. This invention di ers :from thepatent re-1 ferre'd to--in that it is provided .with a rod to be thrown at one end or the other into which the note sheet.travels lonly vwhen so thrown, and this'bar is not a 'permanent guide for the note sheet like v'said roller. My co-pending application referred to-is di rected chiefly to the, adjustable block v pro-,-

vided irith a pair of openings to which construction no special claims arefdirect'ed in this application other than to a' block proline substantially at r1 ht angles to the ,line in which the tracker ar passages are arranged.

Frolnfthe above description it Will-'be ap parent y'that I haveprodiiced a note-sheet guide Amechanism' l:for mns1cal `instrument 'players'posscssing the features of advan tage enumerated as desirable 4and I Wish it -to be nnderstoodthat I donot desire' to be restricted to the'je'xact `details ofzconstrue.

tionshown anddescri-bed as obvious modiiv catlons wxll suggest themselvesto one skilled in the art. l' c Having thus described the inventionwhat I-.claim as new and desire to ,secure by Letscribed, the combination of'aseriesof guide Y vvwith said rolls 'and-'provided -with a longitu'dinal 'series of airfpassagesofafper'forated note sheet running- :over -,said rolls and tracker bar, a 1Q-od contiguous to the note sheet I' and disposed'snbstantiall parallel-with said-` A rolls and tracker. ba1 .\a` means for causing and-uncover the .companion passage of said -said rod to assume a'position 'at an' angle -.to

its'normal position-and.-apply-pressure-fatv onev end on the' note sheet'at one fside'of the' v longitudinalfcenter of the same, to cause saidv note sheet to creep or -sWervje laterally toward the opposite vendof'sind rod. v

of the block and engaging the tracker bar sheet and .disposed substantially parallel with said. rolls and tracker bar, a pair of pneumatics linkedl to the opposite ends of swerving of the note sheet toward one side shall result A'in the operation of the pneuQ said'rOd, .and means whereby the' lateral i matic at such 'side and cause the samevtomove the corresponding end of said rod into frictional engagement with the note sheet at.

the corresponding side of its longitudinal v *with the rolls 'and provided'with a longiengagement with the note sheet and over tudinal series of air passages, of ablock arranged at, one end 'of the series of tracker bar passages, and provided with 'a pair of air passages arranged at right angles to the seriesof tracker'b'ar passages, each'ofsaid perforated note sheet running over said rolls in a direction parallel tothat of the passages and blocks and normal y uncovering one of the passages of the latter and partially cov- ;ering the other passage-of the same.' l

-4 .In a mechanism of the; character de scribed, the combination-of a 'series of guide rolls and a tracker bar arranged parallel I .with the rolls and providedwlth a longi tudinal series ofairv passages, of a block arg- I ranged at one end 'of-the 4series of| tracker.v

`bar passages, and provided with a pair of block passages having one side substantially passages of the block and engaging the tracker bar and blocks and normally coverin'g'one of the passages ofthe latter and l partially covering the othervpassage of the same, and means for .swerving the note sheet toward thepassage ofthe block described-as ,normally partially 'uncovered should 4the note sheetsWerve-in lthe oppositedirection 'lg 'jf "11,5"

block.

, 5. In a mechanism of the character de#l l scribed, the combination of a series of 'guide rolls anda .tracker bar arranged parallel with the .rolls and provided with a .longitudinal series of air passages,' of va block ,ar y"rax'igedatone end oftheyserles-- of tracker bar'passages, and provided'with a pair of pair passages arranged at" r ight .angles to lthe iserles ofjtrackerI-bar passages, each voi'said blockv passages having 'oneside substantially' y1vnffglin'e fyviththecenter'of the other, aperfotiated note sheet 'r'nmnng over saidfrolls in' lain-passages arranged at right angles to the serlesofftracker bar passages, each of salda ,direction parallel to that of the passages yof the blockpand engaging the tracker .bar and blocks and normallyovering one of the passages of the latter and partially covering the other passage of the same, and means to sWerve the note sheet in the proper direction to partially uncover the "passage described as partially uncovered normally,

should the note sheet swerve and cover said passage.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in the presence of two Witnesses.

FREDERICH WV. `WOOD.

Witnesses:

FRANK R. GLOBE, G'. Y. THORPE. 

